Paul C. Rogers
Sergeant Paul C. "Hayseed" Rogers is a former paratrooper and NCO of Easy Company. Biography Early life Paul Rogers was born in Kansas City on July 12th 1918, and he grew up in Adrian, Missouri. He enlisted in the U.S. Army on 13th August 1942 at Leavenworth and volunteered for the Airborne. WWII Rogers was assigned to Easy Company and received training at Taccoa, Georgia under Captain Herbert Sobel. also in Aldbourne England he was trained their also but the team he was in was unknown, He made his first combat jump into Normandy on D-Day. James "Mo" Alley, who was ahead of Rogers, had trouble getting out of the plane and was about to be pulled in half. Rogers, who was "Strong as a bull" had to throw Alley out to save his life. Rogers's parachute was snagged by tree limbs and he had to cut himself free and climb to the ground. Like many other paratroopers Rogers lost so much of his equipment, including his rifle. He rejoined up with James "Mo" Alley and Earl "One Lung" McClung near Ste. Mere Eglise, and fought with an 82nd Airborne Division unit for 8 days. after being a Corporal, he was promoted to Sergeant after the campaign in France. Rogers and Walter "Smokey" Gordon were always planning making up funny things and songs or poems about fellow Easy Company comrades if they had some kind of weakness or were in some kind of trouble. Their good friend Sergeant Floyd Talbert was often a target. Talbert was bayoneted by Private George H. Smith Jr in Carentan. After he returned to hospital Rogers and Gordon put together a plan and an award ceremony to give Talbert one of Gordon's extra purple hearts (which Talbert was disqualified for receiving), and wrote a poem 'The Night of the Bayonet' to immortalize the incident. Rogers also wrote the poem about the fighting in Ste. Mere Eglise that gave McClung the nickname "One Lung". Rogers also partook on Operation Market Garden. During the attack in Nuenen, he was with Staff Sergeant William "Wild Bill" Guarnere's squad, by the time a mortar Sergeant was seriously wounded while the men carrying ammunition next to him where K.I.A. According to First Sergeant Carwood Lipton, who went to check on Rogers, "Rogers let out a string of profanity that lasted a full minute," which was "Most unusual for him." after being returning from the hospital, Rogers fought in 'The Battle of the Bulge' in Bastongne. In Foy, Rogers, Lieutenant Edward Shames destroyed a German tank with a Bazooka. he was later made a platoon sergeant after this campaign. and fought right with Easy Company until the end of the war. Later Life After the war, Rogers attended Easy Company reunions regularly. Since 2001 he had lived in Overland Park, Kansas. He passed away on the 16th of March 2015 at the age of 96. ''Band of Brothers In the episode ''Currahee he cameos when Colonel Sink was talking, his name tag Rogers can be seen. In The Breaking Point, that scene was cut when he and Shames with a Bazooka was cut out of the story for unknown reasons. Category:Paratroopers/Soldiers Category:Characters